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An eco-friendly education at Cornwall's L'Heritage

Eco-Ecole committee members and Grade 8 students (from left) Sorin Iordosopol, Elizabeth Bourdeau and Nevaeh MacRae recently did another of their environmental assessment checks, at L'Heritage, At left is principal Eric Genier, and at right is teacher and Eco-Ecole student supervisor Josh Caissie, on Friday January 8, 2016 in Cornwall, Ont. Todd Hambleton/Cornwall Standard-Freeholder/Postmedia Network

Ecole Secondaire L'Heritage has for a while been a very environmentally friendly school in Cornwall.

The students in the Eco-Ecole club committee want to keep it that way.

And perhaps strive to be even better.

"There's always room for improvement," said Elizabeth Bourdeau, a Grade 8 student and one of the committee members who, once each month, visit classrooms and various corners of the facility in south-east Cornwall to do an environmental assessment.

The whole process takes about a half-hour; the latest tour, with checklist in hand, was earlier this week.

A passing grade for the Dragons?

"Yeah, pretty good," said student Nevaeh MacRae.

The standards here are high.

L'Heritage, several years ago, for the first time was recognized and certified by UNESCO as environmentally conscious and sound, officially receiving ISO 14001 certification.

In 2013, it was bronze certification. A year later, and in 2015, the school improved to silver.

For 2016, for May, the next time the certfications come out, "we're looking to go for gold," said principal Eric Genier.

Students play their part. There's the ISO 14000 for them, many studying environmental education.

Some little steps can make a big difference, and the Eco-Ecole crew has been active in suggesting and organizing events.

For example, a sweatshirt day was organized, allowing the thermostats in the school to be lowered a bit more than usual.

Thermostats are already set low at L'Heritage, at 18 or 19 degrees Celsius.

Then there are the lights. The Eco-Ecole members visit classrooms to see if the lights have been turned off, if nobody is inside.

Already, classrooms and offices in L'Heritage have many ceiling panels without lightbulbs at all -- there's an emphasis here on allowing in as much natural, outside light as possible.

The kids have used posters and made announcements to get the word out on different initiatives, including one which had classes competing for prizes by having the least amount of garbage produced.

Conservation is key. Each floor has a fill-up water station so that plastic water bottles can be re-used.

If Eco-Ecole club members find a computer or Smartboard at the end of the inspection day that's been left on, it gets recorded.

"We look for ways we can all save energy," Bourdeau said.

Last spring, sound environmental practices extended to the outdoors, when L'Heritage created an organic community garden, with the planted vegetables later appearing on plates in the school's breakfast program.

The school-wide project had almost 100 kids taking part, with Grade 8 kids attending workshops on planning and planting, and with shop class students in higher grades providing the infrastructure, including cedar boxes.

The high school this past fall announced its participation in the new full-semester Focus program that has inter-board co-operation, with senior students able to choose a specialized area of study.